Chapter 945: I Fell Just Fine

Everyone's gaze turned together toward the direction from which the voice came.

Xiao Yuanhang, holding Tuan Tuan, was followed by Mu Rongjin, Cheng Ru'an, Xiao Ningyuan and Chu Yuan as they walked out of the hidden door.

Prince Ning's steps were steady, his expression unchanged; there was no hint of having been drugged.

The soldiers, seeing the war god escape, involuntarily stepped back.

The Masked Man sprang up violently from the dragon throne.

He scanned the group that had just emerged from the secret passage, his gaze finally landing on Mu Rongjin's face.

Mu Rongjin did not dodge, his spine perfectly straight: "The medicine you gave, I never put into the soup at all."

"Oh?" the Masked Man sneered, "Then how do you know it isn't poison? Just something that makes people faint?"

"If what I gave were a throat‑severing poison, wouldn't you be afraid…?"

"Hmph!" a resonant voice rang from the hidden door, "Do you think I'm dead?"

Mo Zhanggeng stepped out of the hidden door at an unhurried pace.

"Naturally I don't know what you gave," Mu Rongjin said, "but Tuan Tuan has already summoned Divine Doctor Mo Zhanggeng; even if it's poison, it can't do any harm."

Mo Zhanggeng lifted his eyelids, gave the Masked Man a disdainful glance, and said, "As long as I'm here, you don't dare use medicine to harm anyone!"

A hint of panic finally showed in the Masked Man's eyes.

Tuan Tuan slipped from her father's arms and ran to Xiao Er's side.

She lifted her little face and grabbed Xiao Er's sleeve.

"Uncle Er! Didn't they say Uncle Fang and Uncle Li were recuperating at the border pass? They'll come back when they're healed."

"Why are you saying they died again?"

Xiao Er crouched down, lifted his large hand and gently placed it over her small hand.

He opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times.

He had held back those words for a long, long time—so long that each time Tuan Tuan asked about them, he first recited the lie silently in his mind before speaking without changing expression.

"They didn't recuperate," he whispered low, "they all died in that border‑pass great battle."

Tuan Tuan's tears burst forth, each one striking Xiao Er's back of the hand.

Xiao Er immediately pulled her into his arms.

Xiao Tuanzi's tears kept streaming down, her little shoulders trembling.

"Wuwu, Fang, Uncle Fang said he'd play with me after the battle."

"Uncle Li said he'd still dig up beet roots for me, so sweet… wuwu…"

Xiao Er felt as if his heart had been seized and twisted hard.

He tried to say something to soothe her, but it all got stuck in his throat; not a single word could come out.

Lu Qi hurriedly crouched as well, reached out, and gently patted Tuan Tuan's back.

Xiao Yuanhang thought of Fang Qing's face, his lips quivered, and he closed his eyes.

Xiao Ningxun's head slowly lowered, recalling the border‑pass battle, almost unable to hold back tears.

After crying for a while, Tuan Tuan suddenly looked up at the Masked Man and shouted, "You big villain!"

"I can't understand any of what you say! I just want everyone to be fine, and you're the one who killed them!"

"Uncle Er! Beat him for me! Hit him hard!"

"Yes!" Xiao Er gently placed her against Lu Qi's chest, stood up, veins bulging at his temples, lifted his sword and lunged forward.

"Xiao Er!" a voice full of authority rang out.

Xiao Er's steps halted.

The Emperor walked in step by step, followed by Eunuch Cheng and Guo Taiyi.

His Majesty?

All the soldiers involuntarily retreated a few more steps.

How is it that not only the Crown Prince survived, but the Emperor as well?

Guo Taiyi bowed to Mo Zhanggeng and said, "Master Ancestor."

The Masked Man suddenly realized: the Divine Doctor was Guo Taiyi's Master Ancestor?

Then the Emperor either never took the Zhenwei Powder, or even if he did, this Divine Doctor could surely neutralize the poison.

Xiao Ze shouted, "Father Emperor! This thief has written an edict!"

Xiao Jieyun nodded, walked to Lu Qi's side, bent down and lifted Tuan Tuan from his arms: "Good girl, when you pretended to faint, did you hurt yourself falling?"

Tuan Tuan twitched her little nose, "No! I fell just fine!"

"Dad and Mom caught me long ago!"

Xiao Jieyun gently wiped the tears from her face, looked up at the Masked Man and asked, "Who exactly are you? How can you command so many court officials?"

The Masked Man remained silent.

Xiao Ningxun looked at his chest and said, "Tuan Tuan, bring that rolled yellow thing from his arms to His Majesty!"

"Okay! Third Brother!" Tuan Tuan answered loudly.

Hearing this, the Masked Man was startled, raised his hand and covered his chest: "Help!"

The soldiers gathered around him, shielding him in the middle, their swords all pointed at Tuan Tuan.

"Hmph!" Tuan Tuan lowered her head, untied the small embroidered pouch at her waist, pulled out a short thread, and shouted crisply, "Give the bad guy's yellow thing to Imperial Uncle!"

After speaking, she let go, and the thread fell to the ground.

A faint light flashed, and the thread vanished instantly.

The next moment, the Masked Man's palm over his chest was empty.

The rolled edict instantly appeared in Xiao Jieyun's hand.

All the soldiers inside the hall widened their eyes, utterly shocked.

"What's going on?"

"N-no, we didn't see anything—how did it end up in His Majesty's hands?"

The Masked Man's eyes were also full of astonishment.

Xiao Ningxun seized the chance to say, "The Princess Protector of the Nation's divine powers are vast; she herself is displaying miracles. Won't you quickly lay down your weapons and surrender?"

The soldiers glanced at each other; though their faces were full of doubt and fear, the knives in their hands remained unsheathed.

At that moment, faint shouts of battle drifted in from outside the hall.

A moment later, the sounds of running, shouting, and clashing metal echoed in.

Soon, the noises grew louder and nearer.

"Kill—!"

Xiao Ningchen's voice rang the loudest: "Those who lay down their weapons shall be spared; those who dare to resist will be slain without mercy!"

The soldiers looked at each other, all of them panicking.

"Hm," Xiao Yuanhang said, looking at the Masked Man with a cold sneer, "You think that because the Xuanwu Guard and Imperial Guard are absent, and the Ministry of War is under your control, you are completely invincible?"

"Ningchen's five thousand troops have already been prepared for you!"

"Your three thousand iron cavalry are permanent garrison in Jingcheng and have never seen a battlefield; can they stand against my veterans who have emerged from seas of corpses and blood?"

He surveyed the soldiers inside the hall, his expression darkening: "You are all soldiers of the Fiery Nation! His Majesty's heavenly authority is here; won't you surrender at once?"

"Do you intend to wait until the enemy bursts in, then charge everyone with treason?"

Xiao Ze smiled faintly: "You heard your lord's words just now, didn't you?"

"Rebellion is a grave crime, but it also implicates one's family."

"Clang!" A soldier's grip loosened, his side‑blade fell to the ground, and with a thud he knelt, "His Majesty, spare me!"

Immediately after, the soldiers in the study tossed down their side‑blades, knelt, and shouted for mercy.

Xiao Jieyun raised his hand and handed the posthumous edict to Eunuch Cheng: "Cheng Jinyan, read it!"

"Your servant obeys the decree."